The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) recently welcomed the initiative taken by the textiles ministry to convey to the commerce ministry to conclude a limited trade deal with the United Kingdom that includes textile and apparel products.
The UK is one of India’s largest trading partners in the sector accounting for 24 per cent of such products exported to Europe.
“The textile & clothing industry is very keen that India should sign an early free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK as a duty-free regime would be beneficial in creating a level playing field with other competing nations”, TEXPROCIL chairman Manoj Patodia said in a statement.
With the United Kingdom signing trade agreements with 62 countries, including rivals like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, by January 1 this year, it becomes all the more imperative for India to conclude the limited trade deal without any delay as India stands to lose market share, TEXPROCIL said.
The proposed visit of UK secretary of state for international trade Elizabeth Truss offers an opportune moment for discussing the ‘limited trade deal’, which can get further cemented during UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s likely visit to India in April, Patodia added.
